Jesus Used Rhythm and Rhyme: The 'Our Father' in Syriac
The Bible has rhythm. Find this rhythm, and you can learn the verses much more easily.
But I’d go further. With rhythm, you can learn these words closer to the way they were meant to be heard.
I’ve found a stunning example of these Bible rhythms: a recording of the “Our Father” in Syriac.
Not only do the lines have rhythm. Some of the lines seem to rhyme.
Now, I don’t speak Syriac (I’m still struggling to learn Spanish). I do know that text of this recording isn’t the exact words that Jesus would have used. And the pronunciation is modern. And it’s sung. (Although we don’t know that Jesus didn’t sing.)
But still, it’s much closer to the original than, say, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
When I listen to this, I feel like I’m there, hearing it for the first time. Jesus had a voice, a particular voice. He spoke with particular words, and they sounded very much like these.
See what you think.